Improvement in treating slafi



UNITED STATES ENT ICE.

AUGUSTA AMELIA rLAYEn AND HENRY McALLisTEn, JR., on PEIEADEL PEIA,

PENNSYLVANIA, ADMINISTRATORS OF JOHN l PLAYER., DECEASED.

IMPRQVEMENTIN TREATING SLAG .FROM IRON AND GLASS FURNACES FOR PRGDUCING A USEFUL MATERIAL.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 03,650, dated May 31,"1870.

-To all whom it may concern -in the State of Pennsylvania, was in his life- -time the inventor or discoverer of a certain 4new and useful method of producing what he designatedas vitreous fiber or mineralwool from the slag o'f blast-furnaces, or other scoria or scoriaceous substances.

The abundance and cheapness of the readymade vitriiied `material aiiorded by the vast waste ot' slag or scoria at blast-furnaces ad glass-works will doubtless render it unnecessary to prepare scoriaceoussubstances expressly for this process; but, should it be deemed orfound more economical or' other- Wise desirable, a mixture of silicious, calcareous, and other ingredients may readily be made and vitried after various well-'known formulae. I

' From the slag or-scoria, subjected to'the process hereinafter described, is obtained a vitred fibrous material, highly non-conduct in g, entirely incombustible, and very especially adapted to many uses, of which it may sufice. to enumeratethe covering or jacketing of steamfpipes, steam=boilers, hot-blast pipes, and the like; the lining of refrigerators, 'the filling of tire-proof safes, and other similar applications for preventing the transmissionI o heat `or arresting-the spread of tire.

This materialmmay be used yin bulk, or formed into sheets or pads, in the same mann er as hair, felt, or cotton wadding is formed,

or it may be spun into rope or yarn and ap-v plied in various ways that are obvious.

' The invention consists in melting slag, sco-i ria, or scoriace'ous substances in a cupola or furnace of any ordinary constructlon, adapted to the purpose, and from which a suitable conduitis provided, so that the melted mass may be allowed to flow from the `cupola. or furnace in a small.' stream. Upon this owing' mass a stream or blast of 'air--by-preference, a hot blast-is directed by' any suitable device, and this blast`of air, acting upon ,the y iiowing slag, separates or subdivides it linto exceedingly fine laments orfibers, which are blown gli' into and retained in a suitable chamber or room provided over the blast. From this receptacle it maybe removed to be packed, or for use. Instead of a blast of air, 'or hot air alone, a' jet of air and steam, or of steam alone, either ordinary or superheated, may be directed upon the flowing slag, withbut affecting the result otherwise than, perhaps, iu degree.

The annexed drawing will show the form of apparatus which the said JOHN PLAYER. had devised for the conduct of this process.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a furnace with the chamber for receiving the mineralwool in section; Fig. 2, a plan with the chamber iu section.

The blast 'of air or jet or steam, or of air and steam, may be obtained or derived from a fan, or from a boilenand fan, or in any other well-known way. A

The slag or scoria is melted or produced in a suitable furnace, A, and flows down an iu.'

clined hearth, B, into a chamber, C, Where it is exposed to a blast or jet from a pipe, or nozzle, or' tuyere, D. The fibrous material produced by the blast, being very light, is blown against the wall: of the vchamber next the furnace, and deflected into the chamber behind the blast-pipe, where it accumulates until removed. L i It is obvious that-the blast or jet might be be applied to the slagl as it runs from an or.

dinary blast-furnace, and thus save the rcheatiug of the slag, and this would, perhaps, constitute the simplest application of the invention.

The apparatus above described, however, forms no part of the subject-matter herein claimed, as the same may be varied at the dictates of. convenience or economy; 'but What is claimed herein, as thc-invention of the said J oHN PLAYER, is-f j The method, hereinbefore set forth, of pro-y ducing mineralfwool or vitreous ber by subjecting a stream of melted slag or scoriato a blast or jet, substantially in the manner herein described.

AUGUSTA AMELIA PLAYER, HENRY MCALLISTER, JE., Administrators of John Player, deceased. In presence of WM.' B. DAYTON, J. SNOWDEN BELL, 

